The USC Trojans women’s basketball team lost to the UCLA women by a score of 71-64 on Saturday night before a packed house at Pauley Pavilion.
The Trojans got off to a slow start and scored just 11 points in the first quarter but bounced back with 26 points in the second quarter. USC fell behind early in the second half as well before once again battling back to make UCLA earn this win in a game which lived up to the considerable hype.
USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb was impressed with the way the Trojans battled back from that slow start (h/t Matt Moreno of Trojan Sports).
“Especially going down early, the way we battled back, the character factor I think for us was really high,” the USC head coach said. “And, I think we’re gonna look back at the film and have so many, so many things we can do better, which is really a positive thing. In terms of how we feel, I’m really proud of our effort and our fight.”
It was an impressive turnaround to battle back in the game against a top team in the nation (No. 2 in the rankings) on the road, but Gottlieb knows things need to improve going forward in Pac-12 play:
“We gotta get better, and now the focus goes onto the next 17 of these things in this league.”
The Trojans next face Oregon State at the Galen Center on Friday night.
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